Our Prayer Matters to God

The search for survivors from the Christchurch earthquake has changed to one of a recovery of bodies, the civil defence head, John Hamilton, has said today. Teams have rescued 70 people, but the last person to be found alive was on February 23, which was two weeks before this article. The families of those missing are now being briefed on a shift in operational focus, Hamilton said. He said the decision to call off the search had been difficult, but was based on expert advice following thorough assessments across the city. Recovery operations will be undertaken with the same level of care as the rescue operation was, he said.

Christchurch mayor, Bob Parker, you probably heard him a few times during that time, was visibly upset. And he said the transition to recovery was a sad day for the community. We were perhaps holding out hope against all hope, he said. Perhaps you like me at that time were praying for a hope against all hope, someone a hope that someone would be found alive.

A hope that some people would be saved, would be rescued. Perhaps like some of the families of the victims, you prayed to God for a miracle and felt the anxiety as those days sort of drew on. Do you remember that time? And perhaps you felt the sadness when the inevitable decision came and they said the search for survivors would be called off. It's time to start cleaning up.

In those situations, in those situations, and there's plenty of them, I guess we could think of some more hopeless situations even in recent times. We are faced with the question, what do we do when it seems our prayers aren't being answered? What do we do when there is silence to our prayers? When the families pray for a miracle, but not a single soul is recovered after the initial day of the disaster. When children pray for their mum's recovery from cancer, but she passes away anyway.

When a church meets to pray for peace in their country and they are killed by a bomb blast because of government extremists. What do we do in those situations? How do we deal with that when our prayers aren't answered, what is our response? Sometimes we feel like we should just give up. Sometimes it says it's too hard.

I don't wanna go there. I'll just try and do this on my own. It's not that our faith leaves us. It's that despite our prayers, we still see so many people remaining home. We see so many illnesses that haven't been healed.

We see so many unconverted people remain unconverted. And we know from scripture and we know from life that sometimes in life, we don't get a happy ending. We're going to be reading this morning of a church in pain, a church faced with these questions, and we're going to be looking at Acts 12. Acts 12, and we're going to be reading from verse one to verse 19.

Peter's miraculous escape from prison. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the feast of unleavened bread.

After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four guards of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said. And the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes and your sandals.

And Peter did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and the second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city.

It opened for them by itself and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating. When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door.

When she recognised Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed, she ran back without opening it and explained, Peter is at the door. You are out of your mind, they told her. When she kept on insisting that it was so, they said it must be his angel. But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

Tell James and the brothers about this, he said. And then he left for another place. In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. So far, our reading.

The context. We read in the first opening verses that one of Jesus' handpicked disciples, James, the brother of John, was put to death. In the first few months of the uprising, the revolution that was Christianity, the King of the area, Herod, captured him. Verse one and two says, it was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

The life of James, this disciple that had been with Jesus for so many years, three years in ministry, was ended so abruptly, so harshly, without trial, without a fair hearing. Surely the church would have been praying for James. Surely the church would have been praying for his release, yet he was executed. So was Stephen, the first martyr of the church. So was John the Baptist before him.

And it's in light of this execution that we find the story about Peter. Peter who was captured, Peter who was put in prison, and was surely going to have the same thing happen to him as what happened to his friend, James. Herod, you see, saw that he was getting a lot of clout, a lot of good publicity for stamping out this little uprising, stamping out this sect of Judaism that claimed that this persecuted Messiah, Jesus Christ, was in fact the real Messiah. And he saw that he was gaining some popularity from that, and he had a plan to kill Peter, the head of this movement. But since it was Passover, and we read that here as well, Herod decided to delay the trial, to delay the execution of Peter until after the festival.

It would look bad to kill someone on a special holy day. Peter's situation was bleak. In view of James' execution, some would say it was hopeless. With four sets of guards taking turns guarding Peter, there appeared to be no possibility of escape. It is in verse five, however, where we come to the turning point of the passage that reads, so Peter was kept in prison but the church was earnestly praying for him.

Peter's situation was very bleak, especially in light of what happened to his friend John, to his friend James. But the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The context of these first few verses forces us to assume the obvious. The church was praying for Peter's release. They were praying for his safety.

They were praying that God would do something that would spare his life. These weren't token prayers either. It wasn't just prayer at the dinner table or a prayer just quickly before you go out for your day. It was twenty-four hours of prayer. It was serious prayer time.

The meaning of the Greek use here for prayer means an unrelenting intensity in prayer. Time was running out, however. It was the night before his execution, and there were two guards chained to Peter with chains, thick heavy chains. And then not only that, there were two more guards that were standing out the front of the cell. And then more than that, there were guards on the outside of the building.

What's Peter's reaction to all this? He's sleeping. Peter is sleeping. He's catching some serious sleep. And the miraculous thing of the next few verses is miraculous but also funny.

He is sleeping so hard, so deep that an angel appears, this huge bright light shines into the cell and he's still sleeping. The Bible says the angel had to actually wake him up, had to give him a tap on the side to wake him up. He was out. Can you imagine that? I think that would have been, he must have had so much confidence and faith in God in that situation that whatever God was going to do, it would work out.

So Peter is busy sawing some logs. A thousand candlelight spotlight, a metre or two away from Peter, shines and it doesn't wake him up. Luke says the angel strikes Peter to wake him up. You can just imagine the angel like, you know, coming there fully thinking that he's gonna get this, you know, amazing reception from Peter, and he comes and Peter's asleep. And so he, you know, goes and gives him a kick and Peter wakes and Peter gets up and he's still thinking it's a dream.

Peter is obviously not a morning person. The angel has to remind Peter to get dressed even. Make sure you put on your bow, put on your tunic, here's your stick, here's your shoes. It's like my mum when I was at school. And then he leads him out to the prison, past the guards and onto the street.

Now up until then, Peter thought he was dreaming. It says in verse nine. But what he soon learned was that he was in fact part of a miracle. A miracle brought about by prayer. When Peter finally realised that he wasn't dreaming, Luke reports that Peter went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was called Mark, where many were also gathered and were praying.

You remember what they were praying for. They were praying for Peter's release. That's right. They were praying for Peter's salvation. Peter's arrival then would have surely resulted in some hallelujahs and some amens.

But listen to what happened. Peter knocked at the outer entrance and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognised Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed, she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, Peter is at the door. You're out of your mind, they say to her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, it must be his angel.

The prayer group at Mary's house provides us with a model prayer group in many respects. Concern for a brother in need, a love for God's church and church leaders. They believed in the power of God that He was able to save even Peter in that situation. However, the one thing that they lacked was the belief that God would actually do it. There was no expectation.

When they finally opened the door for Peter, Luke summarises their response in verse 16. They saw him and were amazed. There must have been so much noise, so much excitement when they saw Peter because Luke tells us that Peter had to motion for them to be quiet. Otherwise, the whole neighbourhood is gonna wake up. Peter had in fact been saved in response to prayer.

So that's the story. What do we learn from this? In Acts 12, we see two things. We see the beautiful interplay of God's sovereignty, sovereignty being God's endless control.

God's ultimate power, and also the humble request of God's children. We see this beautiful relationship happening. On several occasions, I've heard this passage focusing on God's deliverance of Peter in earnest prayer. And we say, wow.

God acted mightily to save Peter. He raised him from the dead in a sense, saved him from what was certain death. But we often forget the non-deliverance of James. We often forget that James, his friend, was killed in exactly the same way. God didn't answer those prayers.

God didn't save James. The fact that the stories of James and Peter occur side by side suggests that there are two ways in which God's sovereignty, His power, endless, limitless power is expressed. Sometimes there is physical deliverance and sometimes there isn't. Peter was rescued. Peter was rescued but James was not.

We know that in both of these situations, James and Peter were faithful to Jesus. It wasn't because of a lack of faith. It wasn't because of disobedience. They were both leaders in the church. They were both handpicked by Jesus to be agents of change throughout the world in which Jesus was sending them.

But we also know that God had different futures in mind for these two giants of the faith. One would lead the early church and guide us through the turbulent stages of a very fragile birth. The other shed his blood for the love of his Lord, pure and simple. The Lord invites us to approach prayer and faith with urgency.

And yet we must recognise that God's sovereign wisdom gets the final say. Just as the disciples earnestly prayed for Peter's release, we too have the freedom to earnestly pray for whatever our needs are, for whatever really is troubling us, whatever in our society, whatever in our family life is really tough. We have the freedom to approach our God, our God, with those requests. But ultimately, ultimately, we must leave it to God to let His sovereignty, to let His plan, to let His knowledge win over in that situation in the way that He thinks, He knows is best.

Some people have said that it's a cop-out to say that God is completely sovereign, that it leads to a passive prayer life. Oh, well, I'm not gonna pray because whatever happens, happens. God's already determined it. But let me assure you that prayer is deliberately a defiant act because it recognises that the purpose of a sovereign God will win out in the end.

The purposes of a sovereign God will win out in the end. When we pray, we appeal and encourage God to act according to His plan of salvation. And that plan of salvation does include miraculous events, supernatural events. We appeal to God to act according to His holy character. We know that He is a just God.

We know that He is a good God. We know that He is a God of love. He is a Father. We petition God to bring about His justice. Jesus said, how much if an earthly father is asked by his son for bread?

Will that father go and give him a rock? How much more so your Father in heaven? We petition God to bring about His justice. We petition God to bring about His love. Why?

Because He acts justly. We know Him. Because He acts with love, we know Him. The believers prayed earnestly for Peter despite the disappointment of James' death because they knew God's character. They knew that God is sovereign.

They knew that He's in control and would not allow anything to happen that went against His will. When it seemed that God's plans, when it seems that God's plans had been overtaken by Herod, that evil and powerful enemy of the church, the believers prayed in faith for God's deliverance anyway. And how did it end? It ended with Peter's escape.

But let's have a closer look. Let's see how the passage concludes. Herod was so embarrassed by God, by what happened when he found out that Peter had escaped. He tried to save face by executing the guards. He tried to, you know, put the blame on these guys.

Herod had tried to please the public with the execution of James, an innocent man, at the beginning of chapter 12. But at the end of chapter 12, Herod is struck down and eaten by worms in front of that very public. If you have a look, and we won't have time for that, but read the last part of chapter 12, Herod dies a very painful, gruesome, horrifying death as a result of his absolute rebellion against God, persecution of the church. He dies in front of that very public that he was trying to impress, horrifyingly, disgustingly. Who was more powerful?

Who was more sovereign? Who won the battle on that one? But after telling us how Herod dies, the chapter finishes with these words.

And the word of God continued to increase and spread. The word of God continued to increase and spread. Despite all Herod tried to do, despite him trying to get the leaders and executing them so that this thing would just die out, the word of the Lord continued to increase and spread. Herod had set himself up against the Lord and he tried to win favour with the public by putting an end to the Christian revolution. But Herod dies and the Gospel of Jesus Christ manages to spread like wildfire.

How does this knowledge of a sovereign God help us when comforting those left in the wake of horrible pain? Sixteen, seventeen months onwards, how, how could we comfort those who have lost a dad, a mum, a brother and a sister in an earthquake? How could the Christians in Syria be able to comfort those friends of theirs who have been killed? What do we say? Well, there's not really much we can do or say to change anything.

But there's a beautiful song that I've heard recently by a Christian songwriter called Natalie Grant that sums up, sums up this beautifully. She sings in her song, there's no such thing as perfect people. There's no such thing as a perfect life. So come as you are broken and scarred, lift your heart and be amazed and be changed by a perfect God. If you are experiencing the loss of a loved one and you can't understand why, if you see your child heading into a direction away from the Lord, be comforted by the knowledge that God is still in control.

That God has a plan and it won't be overcome. Remember what that plan is: the renewal and the perfection of this broken world, the renewal and the perfection of this broken world. The new order in things where justice will actually be justice.

Where mercy will actually be mercy. Where love will be unconditional. Our hope rests in a sovereign God with limitless power and control who is still in control today in your situation. The second thing we see in this amazing snapshot is the human side in prayer, the human request in prayer.

We worship a sovereign God, yet God invites us to pray to Him and He inclines His ear to us. Isn't that amazing? God is powerful enough to work all things to the glory of His name. Yet God has sovereignly determined to save, heal, and protect His people in response to our prayers. This is what happens after Moses' intense intercession for Israel.

God was done with Israel. They had been whinging and moaning forever, it seems. And they wanted to go back to Egypt, and they just kept pining back to their great whatever it was in Egypt. And God said to Moses, that's it. I'm just gonna wipe out this whole bunch.

I'm just gonna get rid of them. They are not worthy of being my people. And Moses pleads to God. The Bible says, the Lord relented and did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened. Moses broke down towards God.

Or we see in the story of Genesis, where Abraham prayed to God to save the town of Sodom where his nephew Lot was living. Abram says, God, if there's only 50 righteous people in Sodom, surely you will save it. God says, for 50 people, I will save it. But there isn't. Abram says, well, Lord, for 40, for 40 good people in Sodom, you must save it.

God says, I will save it for 40 people, but there isn't. And so he works down to 10. For 10 people, and there isn't. Not even 10 righteous people. Abraham pleaded with God.

He prayed with God. He wrestled with God. Abraham prayed and the Lord complied. The Lord would have saved Sodom for 10 good people. It is a fact of scripture that we must not overlook and that we can never deny.

God answers our prayers. In response to our prayers, God acts. It's a beautiful mystery: how a sovereign God can seemingly change the course of history through the humble prayer of a Christian. But it's a truth nonetheless.

It's amazing, but it's true. When we come to God in prayer, we enter His presence by faith through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:16 says that we may approach the throne of grace with confidence to receive mercy and to find grace in our time of need, with confidence in our time of need. Our appeals to God are made knowing full well that they will be heard.

That is the promise. We don't pray to a God who is far removed from us, a God who is distant, distant, who is removed from us because of our sin, our unworthiness, our imperfection. But since Jesus is our High Priest, since He is our Mediator, since He has opened that relationship with God, He has enabled that, we may enter this amazing relationship with God. We may enter the Holy of Holies, and we may communicate with God.

Likewise, we cannot be hesitant in prayer because we fear that our prayers may go against God's sovereign will. You know, because we think His ways are higher than our ways, He's got a much better plan or His paths are beyond tracing out. We cannot know what He wants for us. We can't pretend to know how God will act. We can't think that God will not act miraculously according to our prayers.

Because if we say God won't do this so I won't pray, we're actually lowering God already. We're restricting God. We're saying that, well, surely He can't do this miraculous thing. Surely it's not His will so I won't pray for it. We should be praying.

We should be praying for whatever situation, for whatever outcome it is that we really need or desire. God wants us to come to Him. By not coming to Him, we're saying, God, you can't do this. You're not big enough. It's not your will.

If your job security is threatened at the workplace today, if you are a government employee, you can ask God to save your job. How can you do that? Is it God's will? We don't know. We don't know.

But does it concern God? Absolutely. Absolutely. If you're a wife and your husband is emotionally distant from you, can you ask the Lord to change his heart, to convict him of his sin? Will God do it?

How will God do it? Only God knows. But what we do know is that we can come to Him with that. After praying earnestly for the rescue of at least a few survivors in the New Zealand earthquake and seeing that no one survived, do we stop praying? Should we have stopped praying for the tsunami in Japan?

Should we stop praying for Syria? No. By no means. Our duty, our Christian duty is to pray. God will look after the rest.

Now I'm not suggesting that God is some giant vending machine, some Santa Claus God that we just go towards and we push in the right numbers and we get what we want. But our prayer life reflects our theology. And in general, us Ref Os, we have the tendency to, on the side of God is holy, God is massive, He is righteous, He is perfect, and He can't be too much concerned about what's going on in the Middle East. Or He surely can't be too concerned about me finding friends at school, me being lonely at school, me being bullied at school. He's much too big for that.

And that simply is not true. God invites us to share in His plan and His purpose for this world by becoming partners with Him in our prayer life. But we must also realise that our lives and our needs form part of His plan. Our lives form part of His plan of salvation for this world. So what do we do when it seems our prayers are not being answered?

What do we do when God doesn't save? When God doesn't heal? When God doesn't intervene? In short, we keep praying. Why?

Because we believe that a sovereign God without limits to His power, without limits to how far He can change and control, is listening to our prayers. Even in the face of huge disappointment and despair, a small fragile church prayed for Peter's release and they received it. And from that story, there are three things we can take home. The first one is that God is still in control despite our pain, despite our situation. We see from the story that despite the pain and the loss from James' death, Peter was rescued.

Not by luck, not by coincidence, but by a mighty powerful act of deliverance caused by God, set in place by God despite our pain. God is still in control. The second thing is God's plan will not fail. His plan for the world and for you will always come out on top. God is working towards establishing His kingdom and bringing it to fulfilment.

Herod thought that he ended the Christian uprising. Look how he ended up. Look where Christianity has ended up today. Herod thought he was gonna stamp out this little thing starting in Jerusalem. Two thousand years later, it's all over the globe.

It is not restricted to just the Jews. It is not restricted to white guys like me. It is all over the place. Did Herod win? No.

He didn't. And lastly, God invites us to share in His plan through prayer. Despite being sovereign and almighty, God the Father wants to hear from His children. And God does respond because our prayer matters to Him. Our prayer matters to Him.